Construction member.



A. HOPKINS. v GONSTRUG'1ION MEMBER.

APPLICATION FILEDv AUG. 18, 1913.

Patented A'pr. 7,1914..

fr orme ALFRED HOlPKINS, F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, '1Y0 BILL DEEZY COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ACGRPURATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

ooNsrnUo'rroN MEMBER.

naait.

Specification of Letters Patent.

.Patented Apr. 7, ibid.

Application filed August 18, 1913. Serial No. 785,280.

' of various articles or devices for either practical, or amusement, 0rinstructive pur-- poses, the object of the invention being to providemembers which can be assembled to make. various structures, without theemployment of nails, glue, or any tools'whatever.

As will be hereinafter explained, the members are capable ot beingassembled :tor the making of useful articles1 or the frameworks for sucharticles, or ior the designing of architectural rand geometricalstructures.

The members may be used as toys for the instruction of juveniles, orJror their amusement in designing and building various things, or may beused as has been stated, in making an almost endless variety ofarticles.

The invention consists in the improve` ments which I shall now proceedto describe and claim.

l Figure l is a plan view of the joint mem-^ ber. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, illustrating a slightly'dilerentform. Fig. 4 is a plan view, representing two `of the joint membersassembled and with the rod members connected thereto-in the form of awheel. Fig. 5 is a plan view ofa joint member bent to one of the usefulforms hereinafter described. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the formshown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a plan view of one of the joint members bentto another form. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the form shown in Fig. 7.Figs. 9, 10, l1 and l2, are diagrammatic views, illustrating a few ofthe structures which may be built, or made up of a plurality of myimproved construction members.

Similar reference characters indicate similar parts in all of the views.y

The joint membcuis made of sheet metal such as tin, brass, or othersuitable material w ich is flexible, so as tb be capable of being bentand to retain the form imparted by bending. The joint member comprises abody or web a, having cars bent to form sockets a', the body or web abeing preferably provided with a central hole o. irs indicated in Figs.l ano 2, the ears o are all. bent to form cylindrical sockets. Some otthe sockets, however, may be U-shaped, as

indicated at as, in Fig. i3. l do not limit myself to any particularshape olf the sockets. lt is essential that the connections between thesockets and the body yor web be capable of being bent to diiiercntangles relatively to each other. The sockets should be of such size asto frictionally engage rod members b. The rod members may be of anylength. lf two socket members are assembled, as indicatedv in Fig. Ll,and connected by a pin passed through the central apertures. or holeso2, and bent, short rods b then being fitted into the sockets, theresulting form will represent the hub and spokes of a wheel. For thispurpose no bonding ot the ears relatively to their original plane isneeded. The metal of which the joint members areconstructed issul'liriently liexible to enable the ears to be bent to various relativepositions, as indicated in Figs. 51 6, 7, and 8, and as indicateddiagrammatically in 9, l0, 11, and 12. The last-mentioned figuresindicate the rod members, by single.

lines, and the hinged members are shown diagrammatically. By theemployment of the hinged members a at the various places indicated inFig. 9, the sockets 'of such members receiving the ends of rod membersb., I ma] construct a trussed framework, suitable ior the building ofthe roof oi either a toy house, or a house of a size sufficiently largeto be capable of affording shelter.

ln Fig. 10 I indicate simply a geometrical ligure, such as a. cube, theears ot the joint members 'being clearly indicated `as being bent indifferent directions to enable the rod members to connect the jointmembers.

Fig. ll represents a pyramid constructed of six rod members b, ofsubstantially equal length, and iivcjoint members o. As indicated at thebase of Fig. 11, some of the joint members may have one ear, eachexten-ding outwardly to enable the structure shown in said ligure to beconnected by rod members to other similarlyA or differently designedstructures.

In Fig. l2 I represent a tower structure, which muy be considered notonly as representing a toy Eiffel tower, but also represents a towerbuilt on a large enough scale to serve a useful purpose, such assupporting a flag, ratus.

In Fig. l1 there are four members a, at the base, eachmember havingoneear extending downwardly to vform a leg 'which might enter the ground,or 'which might receive a rod member driven into the ground, thesaidfour joint members being connected by four rod members of equallength. -The upwardly extending ears of the four base members a,receive'tlie lower ends of four long rods which extend up throughjointmembers bent to the form indicated in Figs. 5 and 6, the upper endsof the rods entering a joint member Which has the four sockets bentdownwardly close together to rpractically constitute a cap for the towerstructure.

vThe forms illustrated are but a feW of a great variety of shapes orframes that may be made or built by means of my improved joint and rodmembers, without the employment of any nails, screws, or other fasteningmeans, and it will be unnecessary to illustrate more forms. A

As indicated in Fig. et, some or all of the sockets may be indented, atat, either before` or after the rod members Z) are inserted, to increasethe hold of the sockets upon the rods.

rlhe chief characteristic of my invention is, that the joints areflexible. lVhile they'. might be of resilient metal for some purposes,for-l most purposes it is preferable that they shall be flexible, in thesense that they will retain the forms to which they are bent. Iheeasiest way of bending the members a, is to insert the rod members 'anduse the latter as levers, the bend then occurring at the point betweenthe socket portion ot' the ear and the body or central portion of thejoint. 'lhe socket ears are capable of being bent at a right angle, orless, to the plane of the centervor lbody of the joint.

. I-Vhile I show the joint members as having four radial arms, I donotlimit myself thereto, as the number of radial flexible sockets may begreater or less than four. As

or a wireless telegraph appaclearly shown in Figs. 9, l0, l1 and l2,A

joints.constructed with four radial socket ears are capable ot' beingused for constructing a great variety of frames, in connection with rodmembers ol greater or lesser length. Ut tours-c, it a joint is to beused in a location ..vhere one or 'more of the socket ears v would Vbeuseless, those may be dispensed willi by cutting or breaking them olf.The

aperture or hole a2 not only enables a plurality of the joint members tobe assembled, as shown in Fig. 4, but said holes may be used to receiveWire guys .when building a trussed structure,lor for other purposes.

By leaving one or more of the sockets open, or making it U-shaped, asindicated ata, in Fig.4 3, the joint member may be connected toene edgeof a flat bar. For instance, if a flat bar is used as the ridge-pole ofa structure, ears having the form shown at a3, in Fig. 3, may straddlethe upper edge of the said ridge-pole bar, .other rods entering theother. sockets to form rafters.

It will be readily understood that the joint members may be fashioned todifferent f shapes, and that to enable any one to make a wide variety ofarticles, either for toy or' utilitarian urposes, it is only necessaryto have a su icient number of joint members and rod members, whichlatter may be of various lengths, or which may be capable of beingeasily cut or broken to shorter lengths. These members furnish in simpleform, all that is required for the making of a great variety of small orlarge articles, for either amusement purposes, or instruction in deisigning architectural or geometrical forms, or for the construction offrames for a Wide 'variety of articles. It is to be understood, ofcourse, that I do not limit myself to the particular shape of the rodmembers in cross-section. While preferably round, they may be polygonalor flat, in which case the lips of the ears might be correspondinglybent to form sockets which would closely lit such differently formed rodmembers.

I claim z 4 i 'A construction membervformed of sheet metal consisting ofa flat web or body having a plurality of elongated hollow socketsadapted to receive and frictionally hold rods of a size substantiallyequal to the size of the sockets, said sockets being flexibly and inte.

